Complaints about cancelled NHS appointments soar in one year

New figures show the number of patients complaining about cancelled
appointments has risen by one fifth in a year

Complaints about cancelled and delayed NHS appointments have shot up by one fifth in a year, new figures show.

Official data shows the number of patients raising concerns about outpatient appointments has risen from 9,040 in 2013/14 to 10,800 in 2014/15.

There was a similar rise in complaints about ambulance services, the new figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre show.

The London Ambulance Service turned off their sirens as a mark of respect Photo: ALAMY

Experts said the figure could reflect the fact a number of ambulance services took over the running of the 111 “non-emergency” line.

In total, 8,039 patients raised concerns with ambulance trusts, compared with 6,873 the previous year, an increase of 17 per cent in one year, the statistics show.

About 500,000 die in hospital in England each year Photo: Alamy

Overall, there were 205,000 written complaints about NHS services in England in 2014/15 – 562 per day.

The figures include 121,000 complaints about hospital services, up 5.7 per cent on the 114,000 in 2013/14.

The number of patients raising grievances about the actions of clinical commissioning groups, in charge of local NHS budgets, rose by 40.4 per cent, though overall totals remained low, with 3,576 cases raised in 2014/15.

Most complaints were about the medical profession, including hospital doctors and surgeons, accounting for 45.4 per cent of all complaints about hospital and community services. The figure was almost the same last year. Nurses, midwives and health visitors accounted for the second biggest number of complaints, at 21.1 per cent, a similar figure to last year.

By profession, administrative staff saw the largest increase in complaints, with a 23.2 per cent rise from 8,320 complaints in 2013/14, compared to 10,300 in 2014/15.

Junior doctors should not be left to make life or death decisions alone, Nice said Photo: PA

The patient watchdog, Healthwatch England, said the number of people who wish to complain is estimated to be nearer one million.

It is calling for a reform of the complaints system, including making it easier to complain and better complaints handling.

HSCIC said changes in the way data about GP and dental services is recorded meant total numbers of complaints could not be compared, year on year.

In 2013/14, it recorded 174,872 written complaints in total.

Anna Bradley, chairwoman of Healthwatch England, said the figures suggested rising dissatisfaction: "It's disheartening to see that more people have made written complaints to the NHS in the past 12 months,” she said.

"But we know that, whatever the number, these figures don't even tell the full story.

"There is something deeply wrong with a complaints system that is putting people off from raising their concerns."

Mick Martin, the deputy parliamentary and health service ombudsman, said: "Complaints are an incredibly important source of learning for the NHS and a way through which it can improve its services for patients.

"We investigate more than 3,000 complaints a year about the NHS in England that haven't been resolved locally. In almost two-thirds of those, people have felt let down by the complaints process.

"It is essential that NHS organisations listen to people when they say they are unhappy with their service and deal effectively and fairly with their complaints to ensure trust in the healthcare system remains high."

A NHS England spokesperson said: “The best way to improve care is to listen to what patients and their families tell us – every complaint is a valuable opportunity to learn from past experiences and we need to demonstrate this by showing what has changed as a result. We are pleased to see a significant rise in the numbers of primary care and dental practices reporting data on complaints, this additional information will help us see the full picture in terms of the real volume and types of complaints across the NHS.”